Published to celebrate the 950th anniversary of the foundation of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.

Michael Rear’s meticulous research, fluent style of writing and choice of illustrations have combined to produce what will certainly become the standard work on pilgrims and pilgrimage to the Holy Land of Walsingham. This comprehensive work begins with the pre-Christian era and is brought through triumph and tragedy right up to the present day.

This is no dry and dusty research project. It is vibrant with humanity - Kings and Queens, Church and State and ordinary devout faithful laity too - with joy, sorrow and with an overwhelming sense of “the holiness of this pearl in Our Lady’s Dowry”.

Illustrated throughout, the book also contains 16 pages of black & white and 32 pages of colour pictures. The cover features panels of engraved glass, designed by Sally Scott, in the Chapel of Reconciliation.

“Walsingham finds a worthy historian in Michael Rear, whose own experiences of the shrine and whose scholarly abilities make him ideally suited to the task that he set himself in writing this book.”
From her Foreword to the book, Dr Sarah Jane Boss, Senior Lecturer in Theology and Religious Studies, Roehampton University

"Michael Rear loves this place, and is uniquely equipped to tell its story. We thank him and have much pleasure in commending 'Walsingham: Pilgrims and Pilgrimage'."
From their Preface, Bishop Lindsay Urwin O.G.S. Administrator, Anglican Shrine
Fr Alan Williams S.M. Director, National Catholic Shrine.

CONTENTS

FROM MERCURY TO MARY
A Tradition of Sanctity; The Anglo-Saxon Invasions of East Anglia; The Re-conversion of England; The Viking Invasions; Conclusion.

FROM WALSINGHAM TO NAZARETH
The Pynson Ballad; The Old City of Nazareth; Relatives of Jesus in Nazareth; The Ministry in Palestine of the Relatives of Jesus; The Grotto of Conon; The Grotto of the Annunciation; Conclusion.

THE CONQUESTS OF ISLAM
The Conquest of the Holy Land; The Crusaders in Nazareth; The Destruction of the Basilica and the Holy House of Mary; From Nazareth to Loreto; Conclusion.

THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH
The Great Reform; Devotion to the Blessed Virgin; The Dowry of Mary.

THE GROWTH OF THE SHRINE
The Priory; The Parish Churches; The Friary; The Slipper Chapel.

THE IMAGE OF OUR LADY OF WALSINGHAM
Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom; The Enthroned Virgin-Mother; The Uniqueness of Our Lady of Walsingham.

PILGRIMAGE AND PILGRIMS
Pilgrims, Relics, Images and Saints; Roads, Bridges, Chapels and Inns; Pilgrim Badges and Ampullae.

ROYAL PATRONAGE
The Angevins; The Plantagenets; The House of Lancaster; The House of York; The Tudors.

DESTRUCTION
Intimations of Reform; Henry VIII and his Divorce; Martyrdoms and Compliance; The Dissolution of the Monasteries; The Pilgrimage of Grace and the Walsingham; Conspiracy; The Attack on Images and Pilgrimage; The Legacy of Henry VIII.

REMEMBERED WITH DEVOTION
The Queen’s Progress in East Anglia; Devotion and Pilgrimage after the Reformation; Other Memories of Walsingham; Devotion and Pilgrimage in the Nineteenth Century; The First Walsingham Chapel.

RESTORATION
Fr Philip Fletcher; Miss Charlotte Boyd; The National Shrine; Fr Alfred Hope Patten; Anglo-Catholicism; Vicar of Walsingham; Restoring the Shrine; Building the Shrine; Walsingham in the War Years; Fr Patten’s Death; Developments at the Anglican Shrine; Developments at the Roman Catholic Shrine; The Mission of Our Lady of Walsingham.

ANNUNCIATION AND INCARNATION
Religious Communities in Walsingham; Living out Christ’s Incarnation.

UNITY IN WALSINGHAM

THE GLORIOUS VISION
Vessel of Devotion Wondrous; Recovering the Joy of Devotion; Our Lady’s Powerful; Intercession; Pilgrims Today and Tomorrow; Our Two Shrines.

Appendix 1: 1061 AND ALL THAT
Appendix 2: THE PYNSON BALLAD
Appendix 3: WALSINGHAM BALLADS